Black Point Inn, Scarborough

Concierge.com's insider take:

In 2006, the Black Point Inn traded size for intimacy, trimming a century's worth of expansions and returning to its 1905 footprint. What remains are 27 guest rooms and an air of old-money privilege. Smiling young staffers retrieve room keys from cubbyholes behind the front desk; bellhops man the antique elevator; and leather club chairs, a brick fireplace, and oil landscape paintings up the historic ambience in the wood-paneled lobby lounge. Aside from a few nods to the 21st century (flat-screen TVs, Wi-Fi), the guest rooms are straight out of the Kennedy era, done up in a nautical palette of blue, white, and beige with four-poster king beds, mahogany armoires, and tiled bathrooms. Adding to the hotel's cachet is its locationon Prouts Neck, a private peninsula ringed with a 1.75-mile cliff walk whose rugged ocean vistas have inspired many a painter (Winslow Homer's studio is just up the road). After a lazy day at Scarborough or Ferry beach (both just down the hill from the inn), guests retire to rocking chairs on the wide terrace before dining on local butter-poached lobster or saffron-scented risotto with garden peas in the formal Point restaurant. Portland's airport, restaurants, and art scene are an easy 20-minute drive northmaking this quiet retreat an ideal destination for a weekend escape.